Monday, April 15, 2019

Grounded

This is such a hard post for me to write. And yet in some ways I am so relieved. Because of Jim's medical issues, we will not be traveling at all this summer. Yep - we will be spending the summer in the warmth of the Arizona sunshine.  



Jim is doing much better but we have a long road in front of us. He still gets out of breath but nothing like he used to. He also has anemia and the doctors have yet to really address that problem. He is taking daily walks and can walk all the way around the park which is 1/3 of a mile as long as he uses his walker and stops to rest a few times.

He is on a low fiber, low salt diet. Coming up with a meal plan is quite a challenge. But he is slowly adding some fiber back into his system and everything seems to be going just fine in that respect. He has to weigh himself daily. If he gains two pounds over night or five pounds during one week, we have to immediately see the doctor. So far so good. He has lost 25 pounds but I sure wouldn't recommend doing it his way.

He can now use his left arm (cause his six weeks after the pacemaker was put in) is up. That really is a big help for me. Especially with the dogs. They both have back and leg issues so they need to be carried outside. I have trouble getting myself up and down steps let alone carrying a dog even though they are little.

We allow time for lots of naps especially after doing anything like going out to eat or doing some shopping.We are really careful not to push his energy levels too hard. We have at least two doctor appointments scheduled every week for the next few weeks so we have lots to keep us "entertained".

It's hard for me to know we won't be traveling this summer. I had already plotted out a lot of our journey north to Canyon Ferry but that is all on hold. Jim is struggling with the fact that he won't be catching any walleye this summer. However, we think that if we take this year to rest and recover, we can once again do some traveling and fishing next summer. 

I totally forgot to tell you about Todd's win in my last post. We have coffee and donuts every Tuesday morning and we drug Todd with us. They do a 50/50 drawing with 1/2 going to the Park and the other half split in half for two winners. We've been buying tickets off and on for ten years and have never won. But yup - Todd won. $20. He and Michaela are headed for Las Vegas in a few days so he's taking his lucky $20 with them. Good luck kids.

I probably won't have much to blog about this summer but I will check in every once in awhile. Hope every one has a summer full of adventure and safe travels. 

Friday, April 12, 2019

TODD

AJ, AZ   High  97  Low 64

We got a very welcoming phone call from Todd when he told us he was going to come visit for a few days. Made our day, week, month, year - well you get the idea. However, I needed to let him know that we had a list of chores he was going to do while he was here.

This is his reply - "Oh I figured you would! Feed me, house me, love me, and take me to a 7-11 at least once and I will be your humble servant!"  I think that's more than fair. 

We picked him up at the Phoenix - Mesa airport which is a breeze to get to for us. I didn't realize I got this little girl running to greet someone but I love it. I can no longer run so I waited for Todd to get to us.


 Todd and Jim


Poor Todd. Country music is really not his thing but we already had tickets to the Legends of Country show for Sunday night. So he went with us and we all enjoyed ourselves. Todd was by far the youngest person at the showThese performers do the country music that Jim and I used to listen to and Todd was surprised at how many of the songs he recognized.



The biggest project that we had for Todd was the truck. He completely detailed the truck for us inside and out. It looks beautiful. The rest of the project was changing glow plugs. (glow plugs are a heating device that aids in starting a diesel). We needed three of them changed. As you can see Jim made a really good supervisor.


Todd loves to work on vehicles as long as they belong to him or his family. He likes working in the parts department at the Ford dealership rather than out in the service shop.


His reward as a trip to 7-11 for a slurpee. Todd grew up on slurpees when we lived in Virginia. Montana doesn't have any 7-11's so when he comes to visit it is always a stop we make.




We had lots of little chores for him and he gave me a break from taking the garbage out as well as carrying the dogs in and out many times a day. Another chore he did for us was to vacuum under the loveseat. I had totally forgotten that we have a central vac system because I use my light weight vacuum. But he hauled the central vac out and got down under the love seat. Neither Jim nor I can get down or back up.





We went out to eat a couple of times and also grilled at home. It was just a most wonderful visit and we are so grateful he took the time to come down. And we are especially thankful that his beautiful wife, Michaela, was willing to stay home and take care of their four fur babies. But I'm sure hoping next time she gets to come with him. 

We are so proud of the man this son of ours has become.




 



Tuesday, April 9, 2019

End of the Season

 AJ, AZ   High 89  Low 61

(I started this post a couple of weeks ago. My blogging mojo seems to have disappeared.)

Last Saturday we had our end of the season party. I cannot believe it is time for people to head out already. Like Jim said "It feels like we are just getting here." We seem to have lost this entire season with all of Jim's medical issues.

The party was a great time. Hawaiian theme with chicken and pork and all the sides with more than enough desserts. We held it outside around the pool and the weather was perfect.




Jim felt up to going to the party and Marv picked him up with his golf cart. We had a good time but it really wore him out.



The chicken dance.


And a beautiful sunset to go with the party.


Thanks to Wendy for all these wonderful pictures.